List of retired numbers in association football

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Association football clubs around the world sometimes retire squad numbers to recognise players' loyal service, most as a memorial after their death.

Background[]

Signed jersey worn by Diego Maradona during his tenure on Italian club Napoli, exhibited at the San Siro Museum of Milan. The number 10 he wore was retired by Napoli in 2000.^[1]

This practice, long established in the major North American sports, is a recent development in football since squad numbers for specific players were not widely used until the 1990s. Before then, it was typical for players in the starting lineup to be issued numbers 1 to 11 by formation/position on a match-by-match basis, and substitutes to be numbered from 12 upwards, meaning a player might wear different numbers during the season if they were to play in different positions for tactical reasons, or simply not be a regular in the starting lineup.

Nevertheless, in the American league NASL, players always wore permanent numbers since its inception in 1967.^[2] Moreover, Pelé's #10 was retired by the New York Cosmos during the farewell of the Brazilian star on 1 October 1977,^[3] probably becoming the first number ever retired in association football.^[4]

Mexico was pioneer country in the use of permanent numbers in football, being adopted in Primera División in the 1980s.^[5]

Retiring a player's number usually occurs after the player has left the team or retired. It honours a player who has meant so much to his club that they retire the shirt number that the player wore during their time there, meaning no other player is permitted to use that number in the future. In some cases, such as those of Jason Mayélé, Vittorio Mero, Marc-Vivien Foé, Miklós Fehér, Ray Jones, Dylan Tombides, François Sterchele, David di Tommaso, Antonio Puerta, Besian Idrizaj, Piermario Morosini and Davide Astori, numbers have been retired to posthumously honour a player who died while still active. Also, Norwegian club Fredrikstad retired Dagfinn Enerly's number following an on-pitch accident that left him paralysed. In Britain, only Bobby Moore's, Jack Lester's and Jude Bellingham's shirt numbers have been retired due to great service to the club as opposed to a tragic incident. Although it has not been officially retired, Gianfranco Zola's No. 25 shirt and John Terry's No. 26 have not been reissued by Chelsea since they left the club in 2003 and 2017 respectively.

The Argentina, Ecuador and Cameroon national teams have been prevented from retiring the numbers of Diego Maradona (10), Christian Benítez (11)^[6] and Marc-Vivien Foé (17), respectively, by FIFA rules dealing with squad numbers for Finals tournaments; in other competitions, qualifiers or friendlies, national associations may assign numbers according to criteria of their choosing. Similarly, several clubs have been required to reissue retired numbers for continental club competitions due to squad numbering rules of continental confederations. For example, CAF and CONMEBOL have such rules in their club competitions, but CONCACAF does not.

Some South American teams (such as Universitario de Deportes or Flamengo, and even Mexican teams invited for the occasions) have occasionally had to re-issue their retired numbers for special cases due to CONMEBOL rules, which state that shirts must be numbered 1–25 in continental club competitions (such as Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, among others).

Retired numbers[]

Team	No.	Player	Position	Career	Notes
JS Kabylie	9	Albert Ebossé Bodjongo	Forward	2013–2014	posthumous
Godoy Cruz	18	Santiago García	Forward	2016–2021	posthumous[7][8][9]
Rapid Wien	5	Peter Schöttel	Defender	1986–2001	His number was temporarily retired for at least 10 years. In 2013, it was reactivated and given to Thanos Petsos.
Rapid Wien	11	Steffen Hofmann	Midfielder	2002–2018	Retired for at least 11 years
Red Bull Salzburg	26	Jonathan Soriano	Striker	2012–2017	Club's Legend[10]
Sturm Graz	3	Günther Neukirchner	Defender	1989–2006	Club legend
Sturm Graz	7	Mario Haas	Striker	1993–2012	Club legend
SV Ried	27	Sanel Kuljic	Striker	2003–2006
Club Brugge	23	François Sterchele	Striker	2007–2008	posthumous[11]
OH Leuven	13	Bjorn Ruytinx	Striker	2004–2014	Club's Legend
UR Namur	3	Michel Soulier	Defender	1967–1977	posthumous
Avaí	88	Cléber Santana	Midfielder	2012 2013–2014	posthumous[12]
Palmeiras	12	Marcos	Goalkeeper	1993–2012	Club legend. The number is retired for goalkeepers only. Outfield players have worn the number since his retirement.
São Paulo	01	Rogério Ceni	Goalkeeper	1990–2015	Club legend. His double-digit number, worn from 2007, was retired on 12 December 2015 when he retired from football. The single-digit '1' may still be used, but the iconic '01', which is an inverted '10', is retired.[13]
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	8	Hristo Bonev	Midfielder	1963–1967 1968–1979 1982–1984	Club Legend
Ludogorets Razgrad	84	Marcelinho	Midfielder	2011–2020	Club Legend
CF Montreal	20	Mauro Biello	Forward	1993–1998 2000–2009	Club legend
Cobreloa	8	Fernando Cornejo	Midfielder	1992–1997 2000–2004	posthumous
Beijing Enterprises	24	Cheick Tioté	Midfielder	2017	posthumous
Chengdu Blades	18	Yao Xia	Striker	2005–2010	Club legend
Dalian Shide	26	Zhang Yalin	Midfielder	2000–2009	posthumous
Dalian Transcendence	17	Wang Renlong	Striker	2014	posthumous
Alajuelense	20	Mauricio Montero	Defender	1985–1997	Club legend
Cartaginés	11	Leonel Hernández	Winger	1957–1977	Club legend
Cartaginés	18	Claudio Ciccia	Forward	2002–2004 2005
Anorthosis Famagusta	14	Temur Ketsbaia	Midfielder	1991–1994 2002–2009	Club legend
Dynamo České Budějovice	8	Karel Poborský	Midfielder	1991–1994 2005–2007	Club legend
AaB	12	Torben Boye	Defender	1984–2002	Club legend
Nordsjælland	26	Jonathan Richter	Midfielder	2005–2009	Lost his leg as a result of a lightning strike[14]
Næstved BK	7	Rasmus Green	Midfielder	2005–2006	posthumous
Viborg FF	22	Søren Frederiksen	Striker	1989–1994 1998 2001–2005
Accrington Stanley	29	Billy Kee	Striker	2009–2010 2015–2020	Retired due to mental health issues
Birmingham City	22	Jude Bellingham	Midfielder	2019–2020	Youngest-ever first-team player and goalscorer
Chesterfield	14	Jack Lester	Striker	2007–2013
Exeter City	9	Adam Stansfield	Forward	2006–2010	Following Stansfield's death from colorectal cancer during the 2010–11 season, the club retired his number 9 shirt for the following nine seasons.[15] From the 2020–21 season onwards, the shirt will be worn by a 'home-grown player'.[16]
Hartlepool United	25	Michael Maidens[17]	Midfielder	2004–2007	posthumous
Macclesfield Town	21	Richard Butcher[18]	Midfielder	2010–2011	posthumous
Manchester City	23	Marc-Vivien Foé[17]	Midfielder	2002–2003	died on the pitch while playing for Cameroon, was at Manchester City on loan from Lyon at the time
Queens Park Rangers	31	Ray Jones[17]	Forward	2006–2007	posthumous
Rushden & Diamonds	1	Dale Roberts[19]	Goalkeeper	2008–2010	posthumous
West Ham United	6	Bobby Moore[17]	Centre back	1958–1974	posthumous
West Ham United	38	Dylan Tombides[20]	Striker	2010–2014	posthumous
Wycombe Wanderers	14	Mark Philo[17]	Midfielder	2004–2006	posthumous
Clermont	14	Clément Pinault	Defender	2008–2009	posthumous
Lens	17	Marc-Vivien Foé	Midfielder	1995–1999	posthumous
Nantes	9	Emiliano Sala	Striker	2015–2019	posthumous[21]
Rennes	29	Romain Danzé	Right back	2006–2019	Club legend[22]
Sedan	29	David di Tommaso	Centre back	2000–2004	posthumous
Wacker Burghausen	11	Marek Krejčí	Striker	2004–2007	posthumous
VfL Wolfsburg	19	Junior Malanda	Midfielder	2012–2015	posthumous
AEL	24	Kobe Bryant	Shooting guard	1996��2016	Basketball legend, posthumous. Retired on January 27, 2020, the day after Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash.[23]
PAOK	17	Panagiotis Katsouris	Midfielder	1996–1998	posthumous
Skoda Xanthi	13	Olubayo Adefemi	Defender	2010–2011	posthumous
Skoda Xanthi	56	Steve Gohouri	Defender	2013–2014	posthumous
CSD Municipal	15	Juan Carlos Plata	Forward	1990–2010	Club legend
Roulado	7	Jean-Robert Menelas	Striker	1993–2007	Number was retired in recognition of his career at the club and for his all-time record goal scoring in the league. He is the first in the history of Haitian football to have a number permanently removed from use.[24][25]
Olimpia	11	Wilmer Velásquez	Forward	1991–1995 1996–1998 1999–2001 2002–2009	Club Legend
Motagua	16	Edy Vásquez	Midfielder	2003–2007	posthumous, retired from 2007 to 2009
Happy Valley	2	Leung Sui Wing	Sweeper	1976–1997
Hong Kong Rangers	15	Cheung Yiu Lun	Defender	1992–1995 1996–1999 2001–2002	posthumous
Tai Po FC	16	Mao Mengsuo	Midfielder	2008–2010	posthumous
Diósgyőri VTK	77	José Juan Luque	Winger	1996–2013	Number retired on 2 June 2013 in respect of Luque being the most professional player in the DVTK history. His number retired for 10 years.
Ferencváros	2	Tibor Simon	Right fullback	1985–1999	posthumous
Kispest AC/Honvéd	10	Ferenc Puskás	Deep-lying forward	1939–1956	retired in 2000, died 2006
Kerala Blasters	21	Sandesh Jhingan	Defender	2014–2020	Club's Legend[26]
Bethlehem Vengthlang	21	Peter Biaksangzuala	Midfielder	–2014	posthumous, after the player died celebrating a goal.[27]
Dempo SC	10	Christiano Junior	Striker	2004	posthumous[28]
Arema	47	Achmad Kurniawan	Goalkeeper	2006–2008 2010–2017	posthumous
Persebaya Surabaya	19	Eri Irianto	Midfielder	1998–2000	posthumous
Persela Lamongan	1	Choirul Huda	Goalkeeper	1999–2017	posthumous
Persija Jakarta	20	Bambang Pamungkas	Striker	1999–2005 2007–2013 2015–2019	Club's legend
Persis Solo	33	Diego Mendieta	Striker	2011–2012	posthumous
Persepolis	24	Hadi Norouzi[29][30][31][32]	Midfielder Forward	2008–2015	posthumous
Sepahan	4	Moharram Navidkia	Midfielder	1998–2004 2006–2016	Club legend
Zob Ahan	30	Mehdi Rajabzadeh[33]	Midfielder	2003–2007 2010–2011 2012–2018
Derry City	5	Ryan McBride	Centre back	2007–2017	Number was retired in dedication to the club's captain after he died in his sleep in 2017 aged 27.
Derry City	18	Mark Farren	Striker	2000–2014	Number was retired in dedication to the club's all-time record goal scorer after he died of cancer in 2016.
Limerick	4	Joe O'Mahony	Centre back	1966–1986	posthumous[34]
Treaty United	4	Joe O'Mahony	Centre back	1966–1986	posthumous
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	6	Chaswe Nsofwa	Striker	2007	posthumous
Maccabi Haifa	20	Yaniv Katan	Midfielder/Forward	1998–2006 2006–2014	Club's Legend
Maccabi Tel Aviv	8	Avi Nimni	Forward	1990–1997 1998–2003 2005–2008	Club's Legend
Maccabi Tel Aviv	12	Meni Levi	Right Back	2000–2002
Atalanta	14	Federico Pisani	Deep-lying forward	1991–1997	posthumous
Bari	2	Giovanni Loseto	Defender	1982–1993
Bologna	27	Niccolò Galli	Defender	2000–2001	posthumous
Brescia	10	Roberto Baggio	Deep-lying forward	2000–2004	Club's Legend
Brescia	13	Vittorio Mero	Defender	1998–2001 2002	posthumous
Cagliari	11	Gigi Riva	Striker	1963–1978	Club's Legend
Cagliari	13	Davide Astori	Defender	2008–2014	posthumous
Chievo	30	Jason Mayélé	Left/right winger	2001–2002	posthumous
Crotone	4	Antonio Galardo	Midfielder	1995–1998 2002–2016	Club's Legend
Fiorentina	13	Davide Astori	Defender	2015–2018	posthumous
Genoa	6	Gianluca Signorini	Sweeper	1988–1995	posthumous
Genoa	7	Marco Rossi	Midfielder	2003–2004 2005–2013	Club's Legend
Internazionale	3	Giacinto Facchetti	Left fullback	1961–1978	posthumous
Internazionale	4	Javier Zanetti[35][36]	Right fullback	1995–2014	Club's Legend
Livorno	25	Piermario Morosini	Midfielder	2012	posthumous[37]
Messina	41	Salvatore Sullo	Midfielder	2001–2007
Milan	3	Paolo Maldini	Defender	1984–2009	Club's Legend
Milan	6	Franco Baresi[17]	Defender	1977–1997	Club's Legend
Napoli	10	Diego Maradona	Midfielder	1984–1991	Club's Legend
Parma	6	Alessandro Lucarelli	Defender	2008–2018	Club's Legend
Pescara	4	Vincenzo Zucchini	Midfielder	1973–1979	posthumous
Salernitana	4	Roberto Breda	Midfielder	1993–1999 2003–2005	Club's Legend
Siena	4	Michele Mignani	Defender	1996–1997 1998–2006	Club's Legend
Vicenza	3	Giulio Savoini	Defender	1953–1966	posthumous
Vicenza	25	Piermario Morosini	Midfielder	2007–2009 2011	posthumous
Montego Bay	2	Stephen Malcolm	Defender	1989–2001	posthumous
Reno F.C.	7	Caple Donaldson	Midfielder		posthumous
Fujieda MYFC	2	Toshihide Saito	Defender	2009–2013
Thespa Kusatsu	31	Ryosuke Okuno	Defender	2002–2003
Yokohama F. Marinos	3	Naoki Matsuda	Defender	1995–2010	posthumous
FC Astana	1	Nenad Erić	Goalkeeper	2011–2020	[38][39]
FC Shakhter Karagandy	14	Andrei Finonchenko	Forward	2000–2016	[40]
Llapi	9	Fadil Vokrri	Forward	1976–1979	posthumous
Liberia	14	George Weah	Striker	1987–2018	[41]
Al Ahly Tripoli	14	Tarik El Taib	Midfielder	1995–2001
VB Addu FC	7	Ali Ashfaq	Forward	2008–2011
Valletta	7	Gilbert Agius	Midfielder	1990–2013	Club's Legend. Still serves today as an assistant coach of the senior team.
Atlante	12	Félix Fernández	Goalkeeper	1989–1998 1999–2001 2002–2003
Guadalajara	8	Salvador Reyes	Striker	1953–1967 2008	posthumous
Guadalajara	22	José Martínez González	Midfielder	1970–1981	posthumous
Monterrey	26	Humberto Suazo	Forward	2007–2014	Number retired on 12 December 2014
Monterrey	28	Jesús Arellano	Right Winger	1992–1997 2000–2011	The shirt is not fully retired. Arellano has given consent for his son to adopt the number 28.
Pachuca	1	Miguel Calero	Goalkeeper	2000–2011	His number had been retired on 23 October 2011 after Calero's retirement as a professional player. Later his number was retired again posthumous when he died on 4 December 2012.
Pachuca	17	Hernán Medford	Forward/Winger	1994–1997
Pachuca	20	Pablo Gómez	Forward/Winger	1999–2001	posthumous
Pachuca	110	Andrés Chitiva	Midfielder	2001–2008 2011
UANL	7	Gerónimo Barbadillo	Midfielder	1977–1982
Raja Casablanca	23	Zakaria Zerouali	Defender	2011	posthumous
Ajax	14	Johan Cruyff	Forward	1957–1973 1981–1983	Club Legend
NAC Breda	13	Ferry van Vliet	Midfielder	2001–2002	posthumous
Telstar	22	Luciano van den Berg	Defender	2004–2005	posthumous
Utrecht	4	David di Tommaso	Centre back	2004–2005	posthumous
Vitesse	4	Theo Bos	Defender	1983–1998	posthumous
Wellington Phoenix	22	Andrew Durante	Defender	2008–2019	[42]
FK Osogovo	7		Forward	?–1973	posthumous[43]
Linfield	11	Noel Bailie	Defender	1986–2011	number retired in 2011 to commemorate his world record of 1,013 senior appearances for the club
Fredrikstad	8	Dagfinn Enerly	Winger	2004–2005
Árabe Unido	21	Amílcar Henríquez	Midfielder	2003–2008 2016–2017	posthumous[44]
Chepo	77	Jonathan Rodríguez	Midfielder	2006–2009	posthumous
Universitario de Deportes	22	José Luis Carranza	Midfielder	1986–2004
Lech Poznań	9	Piotr Reiss	Forward	1994–1998 2002–2008 2012–2013
Legia Warsaw	10	Kazimierz Deyna	Midfielder	1966–1978	posthumous
Widzew Łódź	11	Włodzimierz Smolarek	Striker	1974–1978 1980–1986	posthumous
Benfica	29	Miklós Fehér	Striker	2002–2004	posthumous
Boavista	29	Edu Ferreira	Forward	2016–2017	posthumous Died on 23 December 2017. The number was retired on 3 January 2018. Leonardo Acevedo was the last player to hold the number, but changed to the 59 shirt midway through the 2017–2018 season[45]
União Leiria	10	Hugo Cunha	Midfielder	2004–2005	posthumous; has been worn again since 2009
Dinamo București	11	Cătălin Hîldan	Midfielder	1994–2000	posthumous
Dinamo București	14	Patrick Ekeng	Midfielder	2016	posthumous
Dinamo București	25	Ionel Dănciulescu	Striker	1995–1997 2002–2009 2010–2013
Steaua București	7	Marius Lăcătuș	Striker	1983–1990 1993–2000	Number retired on 7 July 2021
CSKA Moscow	16	Serhiy Perkhun	Goalkeeper	2001	posthumous
Rubin Kazan	17	Lenar Gilmullin	Defender	2003–2007	posthumous
Rubin Kazan	61	Gökdeniz Karadeniz	Midfielder	2008–2018	Club's Legend
Ural	23	Pyotr Hrustovsky	Striker	1999 2001–2003	posthumous
Hearts	26	Marius Žaliūkas	Centre Back	2007-2013	posthumous
FAS	10	Mágico González	Forward	1977–1982 1991–1999	Club legend
Municipal Limeño	11	Oscar Armando Díaz	Striker	–1998	posthumous[46]
Najran SC	20	Al Hasan Al-Yami	Striker	1991–1996 2005–2010	Number retired on 31 July 2012.[47]
Radnički Niš	10	Ivan "Beli" Krstić	Midfielder	2000	posthumous
Spartak Trnava	9	Ladislav Kuna	Midfielder	1964–1980	posthumous
Maribor	19	Stipe Balajić	Defender/Midfielder	1998–2005	Club legend
Ajax Cape Town	21	Cecil Lolo	Defender	2009–2015	posthumous[48]
Orlando Pirates	1	Senzo Meyiwa	Goalkeeper	2005–2014	posthumous[49]
Orlando Pirates	10	Jomo Sono	Midfielder		Club Legend
Orlando Pirates	13			1997–1998	posthumous
Orlando Pirates	22	Lesley Manyathela	Forward	2000–2003	posthumous
Daejeon Citizen FC	18	Kim Eun-jung	Striker	1997–2003 2014	Club legend
Daejeon Citizen FC	21	Choi Eun-sung	Goalkeeper	1998–2012	Club legend
Daewoo Royals, Busan I'cons	16	Kim Joo-Sung	Midfielder	1987–1992 1994–1999	Club legend
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	20	Lee Dong-gook	Striker	2009–2020	Club legend
Córdoba	8	Juanín	Forward	1960–1970	posthumous
Espanyol	21	Daniel Jarque	Defender	2002–2009	posthumous
Extremadura	19	Jose Antonio Reyes	Winger	2019	posthumous[50]
Real Betis	26	Miki Roqué	Defender	2010–2012	posthumous
Assyriska FF	18	Eddie Moussa	Striker	2001–2010	posthumous
Hammarby IF	10	Kennedy Bakircioglü	Midfielder	1999-2003 2012-2018	Retired for ten years between 2019 and 2028[51]
Helsingborgs IF	17	Henrik Larsson	Striker	1992–1993 2006–2009
Kalmar FF	15	Johny Erlandsson	Winger	1973–1988
Norrköping	18	Stefán Þórðarson	Striker	2004–2007 2009	The shirt was worn by Þórðarson during his comeback in the club during the 2009 season. Has been worn again since 2017.
Umeå IK	6	Malin Moström[52]	Midfielder	1995–2006 2007	The shirt was worn by Moström during her comeback at the club during the 2007 season.
Östers IF	6	Mario Vasilj	Central Defender	2006–2018	Retired the number for six years.[53]
Basel	2	Massimo Ceccaroni	Defender	1987–2002
St. Gallen	17	Marc Zellweger	Defender	1994–2001 2003–2010
TOT-CAT	19	Chanont Wong-aree	Defender	2009–2010	posthumous
Alanyaspor	90	Josef Šural	Forward	2019	posthumous[54]
İstanbul Başakşehir F.K.	12	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan			President of Turkey. A long-time supporter of the club.[55]
FC Kansas City	12	Lauren Holiday	Midfielder	2013–2015
New York Cosmos (2010)	9	Giorgio Chinaglia	Striker	1976–1983	Number posthumously retired in June 2014.[56][57]
New York Cosmos (1970–1985) New York Cosmos (2010)	10	Pelé	Striker	1975–1977	Number retired on 1 October 1977, at halftime of his testimonial match[58] and retired again in July 2013 by the second club of the same name.[59]
New York Red Bulls	99	Bradley Wright-Phillips	Forward	2013–2019	He left the New York Red Bulls in 2019, but the franchise had announced his number would be retired in August 2018.[60]
Portland Timbers	3	Clive Charles	Defender	1978–1981	Number posthumously retired 23 August 2003.[61]
Real Salt Lake	9	Jason Kreis	Midfielder/Striker	2005–2007	Retirement ceremony held on 4 July 2011.[62][63]
Tampa Bay Rowdies	6	Mike Connell	Defender	1975–1984	Number retired 10 August 2013[64]
Tampa Bay Rowdies	12	Perry Van der Beck	Midfielder	1978–1982 1984 1991–1993	Retired on 1 October 2010 by FC Tampa Bay before they rebranded into the second incarnation of the Rowdies.[65]
Shakhtar Donetsk	33	Darijo Srna[66]	Defender	2003–2018	Club legend
Zorya Luhansk	33	Maksym Bilyi	Midfielder	2010–2013	posthumous[67]
Hoàng Anh Gia Lai	13	Kiatisuk Senamuang	Striker	2001–2006	Club legend
Hoàng Anh Gia Lai	14	Võ Bá Khôi	Defender	2003–2006	posthumous
Swansea City	40	Besian Idrizaj[68]	Striker	2009–2010	posthumous

Special cases[]

Team	No.	Player	Pos.	Career	Notes
Argentina	10	Diego Maradona	Midfielder	1977–1994	The number 10 had been retired by Argentine Football Association in October 2001 to honour Maradona. Before the 2002 World Cup, the AFA submitted a squad list of 23 players for the tournament, listed 1 through 24, with the number 10 omitted.[17] FIFA rejected Argentina's list, and the governing body's president, Sepp Blatter suggested the number 10 shirt be instead given to the team's third-choice goalkeeper, Roberto Bonano. AFA ultimately submitted a revised list with Ariel Ortega, originally listed as number 23, as the number 10.[69] The number 10 has been worn by other players since, most notably by Lionel Messi, whom Maradona considered "his successor".
Sydney FC	15	Terry McFlynn	Midfielder	2005–2014	Sydney FC have not officially retired the number 15 shirt, but it has not been allocated to another player since McFlynn retired from professional football in 2014. McFlynn also held a staffing position with Sydney FC from 2014 until 2019.
Independiente Santa Fe	23	Léider Preciado	Striker	1995–1998 2000–2001 2004–2005 2006–2008 2011	The number was out of circulation for a period of 23 months (starting May 2012) in honor of the second top scorer in the history of the club.[70]
Slavia Prague	7	Stanislav Vlček	Striker	2004–2007 2009–2013	Rather than retiring the number, the club opted to freeze the number for any future player that wants it, provided that the applying player meets 7 game achievements. Among those are scoring 3 goals overall against Sparta Prague, being nominated for his national team, winning the trophy for top goalscorer and others. Even though Milan Škoda met the requirements in the 2016–17 season, he opted to keep his number 21. The 7 was eventually given to Danny upon him joining the team for 2017-18 season. Vlček gave his consent and Danny pledged to work to meet the remaining criteria.[71]
Chelsea	25	Gianfranco Zola	Forward	1996–2003	Chelsea have not officially retired the number 25 shirt, but it has not been allocated to another player since Zola left the club in 2003.
Portsmouth	13	Aaron Flahavan	Goalkeeper	1994–2001	Following Flahavan's death in a car accident in August 2001, Portsmouth and his first club, Southampton, retired their number 1 shirts for the 2001–02 season as a mark of respect. From the 2003–04 season, Portsmouth retired the number 13 shirt, as this was the number Flahavan wore during the majority of his time at the club. Number 13 remained unused until 2011, when it was allocated to goalkeeper Stephen Henderson, and it has been reissued since.
Leeds United	17	Massimo Cellino	Chairman	2014	Leeds retired the number 17 shirt due to Italian chairman Massimo Cellino's superstitions, as 17 is considered an unlucky number in Italian culture. Number was re-issued in July 2019.
Exeter City	9	Adam Stansfield	Forward	2006–2010	The club retired the number 9 for nine seasons after the striker died of cancer on 10 August 2010.[15]
Wycombe Wanderers	14	Mark Philo	Midfielder	2004–2006	Philo was killed in a car accident and the number 14 shirt retired. It was later revealed he was significantly over the drink-drive limit and his car veered on to the other side of the road, killing a 58-year-old mother of two.[72]
Wolverhampton Wanderers	1	Carl Ikeme	Goalkeeper	2003–2018	Carl Ikeme retired from professional football before the 2018–2019 season after complete remission from acute leukaemia and the club decided to leave the jersey –previously worn by Ikeme– vacant,[73] with newly signed Rui Patrício unusually wearing the number 11[74] and the other team goalkeepers wearing numbers ending in "1".[75][76] In 2021, the number was reissued following the signing of new goalkeeper José Sá, and after Ikeme stated publicly that he wished for someone to take the number.[77][78]
FC Haka	14	Valeri Popovitch	Forward	1994–2008	First ever retired shirt number in the history of Finnish football is ex-Haka's Valeri Popovitch's number 14. Popovitch has stated that his sons, who are still playing for Haka's junior teams, can wear the legendary number if they want.[79]
Lyon	16	Luc Borrelli	Goalkeeper	1998–1999	Posthumous — returned to use in 2011.
Lyon	17	Marc-Vivien Foé	Midfielder	2000–2003	Posthumous — returned to use in 2008.
1. FC Köln	10	Lukas Podolski	Winger	2002–2006 2009–2012	The club had announced that the number would remain out of circulation as long as Podolski is playing football on a professional level. Nevertheless, the #10 was given to Patrick Helmes in July 2014.[80]
Schalke 04	7	Raúl	Striker	2010–2012	At the time Raúl left the club, the team intended to retire the jersey indefinitely.[81] However, the retirement of this shirt only lasted one year; with Max Meyer wearing it from 2013-2018.
Persepolis	7	Ali Parvin[82][83][84][85]	Midfielder	1970–1987	The shirt was retired after Parvin's retirement, but Parvin gave the shirt to player Hamid Estili and the shirt has since not been retired permanently.
Maccabi Tel Aviv	12	Meni Levi	Defender	2000–02	During a game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem, Levi chest-controlled and kicked the ball, ran back to defend, then collapsed. He returned to his feet, and then collapsed a second time. He was subsequently on a life-support machine, and has since returned home. The club claims that the number 12 is unofficially reserved for the fans.[86]
Livorno	10	Igor Protti	Striker	1985–1988 1999–2005	In December 2005, Livorno officially retired the #10 jersey. However, Protti, who led the forward line and captained his side in two promotions from Serie C1 to Serie A, quickly gaining a reputation as a fan favourite, announced his willingness to see the #10 number reissued to another player, in order to "give anybody back a dream to dress it one day." This was made effective starting from the 2007–08 season, in which Francesco Tavano played with the #10 number.[87]
Milan	3	Paolo Maldini	Left back, Centre-back	1984–2009	The shirt was not fully retired. Maldini has given consent for his sons to adopt the number 3 shirt if either of them play professionally for the club.[17][88]
Roma	6	Aldair	Centre-back	1990–2003	The shirt number had been retired by the club when the player left the club in 2003. When Kevin Strootman joined Roma in 2013, he asked for permission to wear number 6. The club approved the request after Aldair gave his consent.[89]
Sagan Tosu	17	Sakata Michitaka	Non-player	2001–	The shirt was retired posthumously, to honour Michikata who played a key role in establishment of former Tosu Futures and their revival as Sagan Tosu, and who died due to kidney cancer on 7 January 2000. Number 17, derived from the day of his death, was selected to be retired. The number would later also be dedicated to the club's fans, thus they have not retired squad number 12 like most Japanese League teams.
Akhaa Ahli Aley	20	Mohamed Atwi	Midfielder	2018–2020	Akhaa Ahli Aley have retired the squad number 20, in honour of Atwi's death in 2020 due to a stray bullet in the head. The club has retired the number for two seasons—from 2020 to 2022—the duration in which Atwi stayed at the club.[90]
Guadalajara	11	Ramón Morales	Midfielder	1998–2011 2013– (as part of the coaching staff).	The shirt was never officially retired, but it was not issued out of American competitions for the time between Morales' exit and his return as a coach. All players intending to wear the jersey have to ask for Morales' consent. It is now being worn by Isaác Brizuela.
Pachuca	8	Gabriel Caballero	Midfielder/Forward	1998–2002 2003–2004 2005–2009	His number was just temporarily retired for 5 years. After that period, it was reactivated and given to Hirving Lozano in 2014.[91]
Pumas UNAM	12	Sergio Bernal	Goalkeeper	1989–1997 1998–2001 2003–2010	Number retired in 2010,[92] then reissued.
Ajax	34	Abdelhak Nouri	Midfielder	2016–2017	Nouri collapsed on the pitch after suffering severe cardiac arrhythmia,[93] which forced him to leave football.[94] Number 34 has not been issued since then.
Stabæk	7	Christer Basma	Central defender	1995–1998	The club had retired the number to honor his services for the club. However, the retirement was revoked after 2004 season and the number given to Henning Hauger.
Universitario	9	Lolo Fernández	Forward	1930–1953	Number retired only for the 2013 season.[95]
Motherwell	10	Phil O'Donnell	Midfielder	1990–1994 2004–2007	O'Donnell collapsed while playing for Motherwell against Dundee United in 2007. He was later pronounced dead at Wishaw General Hospital. The number 10 shirt was worn by his nephew David Clarkson during the 2008–09 season. Since Clarkson left in June 2009, it has not been retired, but has not been issued to any subsequent player.
Dunfermline Athletic	4	Norrie McCathie	Defender	1981–1996	The club retired the number after club captain McCathie was found dead in his home on 8 January 1996, as a result of Carbon monoxide poisoning.[96] At that time, Scottish League clubs used shirt numbered from 1 to 11, so for the remainder of the 1995–96 season, 12 was used instead. However, the number was not retired permanently, and has been re-issued since.
Orlando Pirates	22	Lesley Manyathela	Striker	2000−2003	The club retired the number 22, after Manyathela died in a car crash in August 2003. However, Confederation of African Football rules state that shirts must be numbered 1–30 in continental club competitions, so Pirates has been re-issued it in those special cases.
Oviedo	10	Peter Dubovský	Midfielder	1995–2000	The Spanish Football League allowed Oviedo to retire number 10 just for the 2000–01 season, as an exception to its rules. At the end of the season, number 10 was re-issued.
Barcelona	21	Luis Enrique	Midfielder	1996–2004	Joined the club as a free agent from eternal rivals Real Madrid, spending eight years at Barcelona, even becoming captain of the team. The shirt was retired for just two years (2004–06), since La Liga did not allow to retire numbers permanently. The number 21 shirt was awarded to Lilian Thuram in 2006. Upon his arrival at the club in 2020, Frenkie De Jong currently holds the number 21 shirt taking it from Carles Alena
Sevilla	16	Antonio Puerta	Left back, Left winger	2004–2007	The shirt has not been fully retired. It was temporarily retired after Puerta died of a cardiac arrest on the first matchday in La Liga 2007–2008 However, the Spanish Football Federation rules state that clubs must use number 1 to 25 for their regular squad, and as a result, David Prieto wore the number in 2008 in honour of his friend.[97] It has become a club policy to hold number 16 to players coming from the youth academy as a tribute to Puerta, who was a youth system product. Exceptions have been made when 16 was the only jersey number available.[98]
Galatasaray	3	Bülent Korkmaz	Central defender	1984–2005	Despite the club announcing the retirement of the number, it has been re-issued.
LA Galaxy	13	Cobi Jones	Midfielder	1996–2007	The number was not officially retired by the Galaxy but had not been worn since Jones retired. In 2017, it was given to Jermaine Jones.[99]
Tampa Bay Rowdies	7	Steve Wegerle	Forward	1977–1981 1984 1988–1990	Although his number had been retired by the original franchise in 1989,[100] the current team has reissued it.

Dedication to fans[]

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Number 12[]

Some clubs dedicate a number to their fans, and do not issue it to any player. The most common number for this practice is 12, from descriptions of the fans as "the twelfth man". Clubs and teams that have retired the '12' include:

Notes

Other numbers retired[]

• AIK and Djurgården IF reserve the number 1 for their supporters.
• Indy Eleven reserve the number 11 for their supporters.
• Reading, Notts County and Bryne reserve the number 13 for their supporters, Panathinaikos reserve this number in honour of Gate 13, the ultras based in the respective gate in home matches. Between 2002 and 2007 Norwich City reserved the number 13 shirt for "the fans" after which it was worn by Declan Rudd while Shrewsbury Town reserve the number 13 shirt for the fan who wins a pre-season competition.
• After their 15-point deduction, Leeds United retired the number 15 shirt for the 2007–08 season only.^[108]
• Bursaspor reserve the number 16 for their supporters.
• AFC Bournemouth use squad number 27 for the Steve Fletcher Stand which houses the large majority of hardcore supporters, the number 50 for "12th man" and the number 99 shirt for their mascot, Cherry Bear.
• Gillingham use squad number 13 for the 'Rainham End' Stand of Priestfield Stadium as this stand holds the majority of hardcore supporters.
• Oldham Athletic reserve the number 40 for their fans.
• Panathinaikos have reserved the number 13 in honour of Gate 13.
• Levadiakos have reserved the number 10 for the club president, Giannis Kobotis.
• Leicester City have reserved the number 50 for the mascot, Filbert Fox, which he wears on his shirt at every game.
• APOEL have reserved the shirt number 79 in honour of PAN.SY.FI. (APOEL Ultras), to denote the year the group was founded, 1979.^[109]
• Rochdale retired the number 55 shirt on 13 January 2017 in honour of five-year old Joshua McCormack who lost his battle with cancer.^[110]
• Atlanta United reserve the number 17 for their supporters and to reference their inaugural season in Major League Soccer.^[111] For the 2021 MLS season, the club also reserved the number 44 as part of a tribute by Atlanta-area sports teams in memory of Henry Aaron of the local MLB club, who died January 22, 2021, where all sports teams in the area reserved the No. 44 for the year.
• Sagan Tosu retired 17 in dedication to their fans.
• Bradford City A.F.C retired shirt no. 8 across all age groups, after the tragic death of academy player Tomi Solomon, stating that it shall 'remain with him forever'.^[112]

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Association football retired numbers.